This was my first cruise with Fred Olsen and it will also be my last. Why do I say this? It is because I have found that unlike other cruise companies, they do not put passenger satisfaction first and are only interested in the amount of money that they can screw you for. Their attitude when faced with an inquiry out of the norm seems to be unbending and inflexible, a sort of like it or lump it policy.

My wife had suffered a broken ankle before the cruise, she was on crutches and was very unsteady during the swell of crossing the North Sea, On asking at reception for temporary use of a wheelchair I was referred to the doctor who said he would need to examine her at a cost of £40 and wheelchair hire was £150. I explained we had our own one on board whereupon he still said he would need to examine her and would put us off the ship if he deemed her to be unfit. There would be no help in getting us back to the UK. His attitude was appalling, it felt like a threat so we kept quiet and got about the ship as best we could. My wife's condition improved over the course of the voyage and she could use stairs the second week if we were at port or in calm waters - yet he would have had us off the ship. Needless to say there was no help or redress from the company itself. I have been with several cruise companies and have never before come across such an uncompromising attitude.

The tours were ridiculously overpriced. The trip to see the Northern Lights at Tromso involved us being deposited in a dark uneven icy field with only hot chocolate and a tasteless biscuit to eat as we froze.There was one temporary tepee to accommodate large numbers of people, many of maturer years. Read more